Self-Published Books and the Academic Library

Self Pub 2.0Charleston Conference

November 6, 2013

Michael Levine-ClarkAssociate Dean for Scholarly Communication and

Collections ServicesUniversity of Denver Librariesmichael.levine-clark@du.edu

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Libraries rely on other experts to vet content for us

• Peer review process• Publishers• Approval vendors • Ebook aggregators

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How radically will the scholarly book publishing landscape change in the next five years?

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Explosion of Self Publishing

2007 2011 20120

50,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

250,000

300,000

350,000

400,000

450,000

American Self Published (ISBN)North American Scholarly (YBP)American Book Produc-tion (BISAC)

How do libraries provide access to self-published books? Or do we?

Peer Review of Self-Published Books

• Unlikely for most self-published material

• Identify after the fact? – Reviews – Citations– Klout

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How Do Librarians Determine Quality?

• Traditionally publisher determines quality• How do librarians and our vendors identify

quality without the help of publishers?– Institutional affiliation? (but what about writers

outside the academy?)– Author name? (but what about un-established

authors?)– And what about bad books by known authors?• Or authors writing outside area of expertise?

How do we find that archaeology title while eliminating the holocaust denial book?

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Thank You

Michael Levine-Clarkmichael.levine-clark@du.edu